The
University
of
Toledo

Provenance: Gift of Lon Mitchell, on behalf of the Lucas County Board for Mental Retardation and Developmental DisabilitiesAccess: No restrictions

Collection Summary: Founder of the Lott Day School, the first of several schools for developmentally disabled children. Also founded the Lott Sheltered Workshop (later known as Lott Industries) to provide her students with job skills.
This collection consists of administrative records, biographical and historical materials, printed material, audiovisual material, and ephemera.

Related Collections: Collections of the Regional Disability History Archive Project

Processing Note: None

Copyright: The literary rights to this collection are assumed to rest with the person(s) responsible for the production of the particular items within the collection, or with their heirs or assigns. Researchers bear full legal responsibility for the acquisition to publish from any part of said collection per Title 17, United States Code. The Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections may reserve the right to intervene as intermediary at its own discretion.

Completed by: Mary Koslovsky, July 2004; last updated: June 2014

CHRONOLOGY

1938

Josina Jones Lott starts Lott Day School in her apartment.

1939

Lott Day School outgrows Mrs. Lott’s apartment and moves into the basement of

Rosewood Presbyterian Church.

1945

Lott Day School becomes incorporated as a non-profit, non-sectarian institution

with a Board of Directors. An unused Toledo Public School building is rented at

Proposal to merge Lott School for Handicapped Children with Child Welfare

Board since tax money cannot be used to fund private schools such as the

Lott Day School.

Josina Jones Lott chosen as one of Toledo’s Distinguished Citizens by the

Blade.

1961

Building of new school for developmentally disabled children begins

(Larc Lane School).

Additional classroom space rented at Glenwood Lutheran and Redeemer

Lutheran churches.

1961

Tracy School opens in a building rented from Toledo Board of Education.

Aid to Retarded Children's Program holds first official Summer Day Camp.

1962

Lott Auxiliary reorganized and renamed Lott Guild.

Larc Lane School opens.

1965

Lucas County Sheltered Workshop for Retarded Persons opens

adjacent to Larc Lane School.

Additional classroom space rented at St. Petri Lutheran Church.

1966

Additional classroom space rented at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church

1967

Land purchased for a residential camp program named Camp Courageous.

1968

Josina Jones Lott retires at age 70.

1971

Jay J. Shuer School for Retarded Children opens.

Children participate in first Ohio Special Olympics held in Cleveland.

Sheltered Workshop rents building on 12th street to expand their program.

1972

Josina Jones Lott dies at age 74.

Biographical Sketch

Josina Jones Lott believed that every child, regardless of physical or mental limitations, had ability and could learn. Lott Day School began in her apartment in September of 1938. Mrs. Lott had seen children turned away from the public school because parents were told that there was no place for them in the classroom. She was determined to educate every child in the basics of “…the alphabet, reading and simple arithmetic.” Her school started with one student and quickly grew to fifteen as word of her work spread within the community. The pastor of nearby Rosewood Presbyterian Church invited her to use the Sunday school rooms in the basement of the building to accommodate the increasing enrollment. After five years, the school grew to fifty-five pupils and had outgrown the church basement.

Mrs. Lott gained the support of a small group of influential people who became the first Board of Directors of Lott Day School in 1945. The school was legally incorporated in 1946 and rented a former school building located at Heffner and Kelsey Streets. At some point after moving into the new building, Mrs. Lott asked the school auxiliary for $170 to start a sheltered workshop for students who had reached their limit of academic achievement but were unable to work and help support themselves. This was one of the first vocational programs in the United States aimed at training young adults in skills that would allow them to work and earn a living thus becoming more independent members of society. It was decided to use the school auditorium as the sheltered workshop room. The workshop continued to grow and eventually a separate facility was built to accommodate the growing number of trainees. It was at that time the only workshop of its kind built by tax money specifically for the developmentally disabled adult.

In 1951, the Ohio State Legislature recognized the fact that there were no programs in our public schools for the trainable developmentally disabled child. Legislation was passed allowing training classes for these children and placed the administration of such community classes on the local level with the Child Welfare Boards. In 1957, a tax levy was passed in Lucas County that included support for Lott Day School and in 1958 the Lucas County Child Welfare Board took over the financial control of Lott Day School. The school was renamed Heffner School but Josina Jones Lott remained principal of the school and the sheltered workshop.

When Lott Day School merged with the Lucas County Child Welfare, services for developmentally disabled children expanded through the building of Larc Lane School and the opening Tracy School in a former Toledo Public School building. A growing awareness of the need for such specialized services resulted in the passage of a countywide tax levy in 1959 that would provide education and training to developmentally disabled children in Lucas County. With new funding came the building of the Larc Lane School, the use of other buildings in the county and developing diversity in the services that were provided, e.g. Summer camp and a residential camp. Federal grant money was obtained that also help expand services to residents of Lucas County.

What Josina Jones Lott began in 1938 has grown into a multi-organizational approach to helping mentally and physically challenged individuals. Northwest Ohio now has many organizations such as the Lucas County Association for Retarded Citizens, the Lucas County Board for Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, Lott Industries and the Northwest Ohio Developmental Center.

Scope and Content Note

The records of Josina Jones Lott, the Lott Day School and the Lott Sheltered Workshop date from the 1949 to 2000. The collection is arranged in five series.

Series 1, Administrative Records, includes materials documenting the Lott Day School and associated organizations, including the Lott Auxiliary, Lott Guild, and Lott Sheltered Workshop. Also included are materials documenting the county’s efforts to assist the developmentally disabled, including the Lucas County Board for Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, Association for Retarded Children, Lucas County Association for Retarded Children, Child Welfare Board, Northwest Ohio Development Center, Decem Center, the Public Awareness Plus Committee, the Human Sexuality Advisory Committee, and Lott Industries. The materials consist of annual reports, committee reports, correspondence, meeting minutes, fundraising activities, educational program materials, and manual of rules and regulations. Of particular note is the Wolfensberger Report, an in-depth assessment done in 1973 of the “Lucas County Program for Mentally Retarded” by Dr. Wolf Wolfensberger of the National Institute on Mental Retardation. The files are arranged in alphabetical order by subject.

Series 2, Biographical and Historical Materials, includes biographical material on Josina Jones Lott and the Lott Day School, historical information on Franklin County Board of Mental Retardation, Lucas County Board of Mental Retardation, and a brief history of mental institutionsin Ohio. Also included is information on Doren A. Gustavis, superintendent of one of the first institutions in Ohio to treat developmentally disabled youth.

Series 3, Printed Materials, includes a limited index for newspaper articles from 1958-1963 (primarily from the Toledo Blade) about developmental disabilities as well as pamphlets, magazine articles, press releases, newsletters, Motive Magazine from 1961-1971, and copies of newspaper articles from 1950-1987 that deal with developmental disabilities on a local and state level.

Series 4, Audiovisual Materials, includes an extensive collection of photographs and slides, most of which are undated. The photographs are arranged in alphabetical order by subject, and are individually listed in the file folder listing. Included are photos of daily activities by clients, administrators, and teachers. Special functions such as Christmas parties and fundraisers are also documented, as is participation in the Special Olympics. Celebrities, politicians, and other note worthy individuals involved in developmental disability causes are included. The slides are arranged in general categories by subject. Video tapes of commercials advertising Lott Industries to potential contractors are included, as is a compact disc documenting a 1998 conference in Minnesota on developmental disabilities which includes a brief history of services provided to people with such disabilities.

Series 5, Ephemera, consists of two scrapbooks dated 1949-1985 containing newspaper clippings documenting services to the developmentally disabled, a guestbook from the dedication of Jay J. Shuer School, and three tax levy campaign buttons. The scrapbook dated 1949-1971 includes a memorial to Josina Lott and programs from special functions honoring Mrs. Lott.

Parallels in Time and The Learning Center (2 Discs)
Minnesota Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities, 1998
(Contains short history of people with disabilities and the 25 year history of the Minnesota Governor’s Council)

4

4

S5. EPHEMERA

(* indicates material is on oversize shelf)

4

225

Guest book from Dedication and Open House of Jay J. Shuer
School, October 24, 1971 (Given by Debra Thomasey, Student)

Scrapbook containing newspaper clippings, tax levy
campaign information, articles about Special Olympics as
well as state and local information about developmental disabilities.
Includes material from1974-1985.

5*

228

Scrapbook (Red), compiled by Ida Weber, covers the years of
1949-1971 and contains newspaper clippings, a program from the memorial service for Josina Jones Lott, a copy of a speech given at Mrs. Lott’s memorial service, a written thank you note from Mrs. Lott, programs from a special function honoring Mrs. Lott, two short
poems, flyer for Larc Lane School open house and a GOAL
newsletter.